Top 50 Cal Sports Moments -- No. 1: The Play, 1982

Stanford coach Paul Wiggin’s decision to call timeout with 8 seconds left for what he hoped was a game-winning field goal, left 4 seconds on the clock and gave Cal a window to execute The Play

Kevin Moen / Robert Stinnett, Oakland Tribune

As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to a close after more than a century, we count down the Top 50 moments involving Cal athletics.

THE MOMENT: Following coach Paul Wiggin’s instruction, Stanford quarterback John Elway called for a timeout with 8 seconds left in the Nov. 20, 1982 Big Game. That meant there still were 4 seconds on the clock after Stanford made a go-ahead field goal, requiring the Cardinal to kick off once more against Cal. We all know what happened then.

THE STORY: Seriously, could any other moment in the history of Cal athletics have been our top choice for this list? Given that, the question then became a matter of identifying the critical moment related to five-lateral kickoff return that became known as The Play.

Any of those five laterals — Kevin Moen to Richard Rodgers . . . Rodgers to Dwight Garner . . . Garner to Rodgers . . . Rodgers to Mariet Ford . . . Ford to Moen — could have been chosen.

So could that moment when Garner’s knee dropped toward the turf just as he was dispatching the football — long a point of contention among frustrated Stanford fans.

Or Ford’s no-look pitch over his right shoulder to Moen, who dashed the final 25 yards into the end zone.

Certainly, the Stanford band’s rush onto the field before the play was over was a hugely comical moment, but it really had no impact the game’s outcome.

Same thing with The Play’s most iconic moment, Moen crashing into band member Gary Tyrrell, a collision in the end zone that left his trombone crumpled on the field and symbolizes the entire, wacky play. But with or without that trombonehead moment, Moen scores the game-winning touchdown.

Superseding any of those moments was Wiggin’s decision to ask for a timeout with 8 seconds still remaining. He did it just in case a bad snap on the field-goal try might give Mark Harmon a second chance to kick the would-be game winner. On one level, perhaps a shrewd and cautious decision.

In fact, Harmon’s 34-yard field goal was successful on the first try and Stanford led 20-19. But the game wasn’t over and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Cardinal gave the Bears a 15-yard headstart after corralling the squib kickoff.

So many moments conspired to create one of the most enduring memories in college football history. But without the extra 4 seconds Paul Wiggin left the Bears, The Play never would have happened.

* Top 50 Moment No. 2: Female First

* Top 50 Moment No. 3: Greeting Oscar

Only specific acts that occurred while the team or athlete was at Cal were considered for the Top 50 list, and accomplishments spanning a season or a career were not included. 

Leslie Mitchell of the Cal Bears History Twitter site aided in the selection of the top 50 moments.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo